Protective armor for ships.



F. W. BENTLEY. PROTECTIVE ARMOR FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, I917- Patented May14,1918.

FREDERIC W. BENTLEY,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

rno'rnc'rivn ARMOR FOR SHIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 14, 1918.

Application an m 7, 1917. Serial No. 167,110.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIC W. BENT- mar, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Protective Armor for Ships, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to protective armor for ships.

, The appalling destruction of ships, their cargoes, and in many cases,human lives, in the great European. war now being waged, by means oftorpedoes discharged from submarines. mines, etc., is a matter of commonknowledge, and the problem of protecting ships from attack by means oftorpedoes, mines and the like, is recognized as one of the most,difiicult presented by modern marine warfare.

Broadly stated, the object of the present inventicn is to provide aprotective armor for ships which will operate to distribute the forceor" concussion of a gaseous explosion, as that produced by the explosionof a torpedo or of a mine, so that the shock of said explosion will notbe concentrated at a particular part of the hull of the ship, which canthus withstand an explosion of great violence without sustaining damage.

In carrying out the present invention, I

contemplate the use of a protective armor made of cellular material, thecells or interstices of which are filled with air, and which is easilyfriabl, whereby the force, shock or concussion due to the explosion of atorpedo or mine in contact with said armor will be absorbed anddistributed by compression of the air contained therein and will also beexpended in pulverizing or reducing to fine granular form the materialforming the body of said armor. Also, in order that said protectivearmor may not reduce the tonnage or load carrying capacity of the ship,it is preferably made of a material which floats in water.

In a broad sense, my invention contemplates the use of any material forthe formation of myi-mproved protective armor, which possesses thenecessary characteristics of buoyancy, cellular structure andfriability. Specifically, I contemplate a protective armor made of slagsuch as is produced inthe smeltingof ores which, while in a moltenstate, has been discharged .into' or otherwise treated with water,which, as is well known, causes said slag to assume the general form andappearance of highly cellular pumice stone, being honey-combed withvitreous cells, and at the same time buoyant in water and very friable.

My invention also comprises a suitable structure or structures forcontaining said slag, which may either form part of the ship or may beformed separate therefrom and attached thereto by suitable means, aswill hereinafter be fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in which my invention is fullyillustrated,

Figure 1 is a horizontal, longitudinal, sectional view of a shipequipped with my im proved protective armor, taken on the line 1-1 ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, A designates the hull of a ship, thewater line of which, when light, is indicated by the line a and the loadwater line by the line a.

Any desired portion or area of the outer surface of the hull of the shipmay be protected by means of my improved armor, said armor, as shown,being applied to the entire surface of the ship between the bilge andthe load water line a.

In what I now consider the preferable form of my invention, a shell orcasingB, consisting of an outer side wall 1 and top and bottom walls 2and 3, is secured to the portion of the hull of the ship which it isdesired to protect, said shell or casing being preferably made ofmetalplates riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the hull of the shipand forming a water-tight chamber C surrounding what may beappropriately designated as the danger zone of the ship. To provideaccess to the chamber C, the shell or casing is provided with suitablemanholes 4; which are adapted to be closed by covers 5 removably securedin position by any well known means now in common use for this purpose.As shown said man-holes 4 are formed in the top wall 2 of said shell orcasing B, but may be formed elsewhere if desired.

Also, said chamber C is divided transversely by water-tight partitions6, preferably made of metal plates, into a large number of relativelysmall compartments, whereby if a wall of the chamber 0 is punctured, theextent. to which the chamber C is flooded will be limited to one or atmost, a few only of said compartments.

The outer wall 1 of the shell or casing B is preferably made ofrelatively thin material so that it will bend or fracture under theforce of a severe explosion such as that of whereby, in case the wall 1of said shell or casing is ruptured and the gases produced by theexplosion enter the chamber G, their natural tendency, in following theline of least resistance, would be to blow off the top of said shell orcasing and thus reduce the inward force exerted thereby against the sideof the hull A of the ship.

In practice, I contemplate making the side and top walls of said shellor casing B as thin as is consistent with requisite strength.

The compartments into which the chamber C is divided are filled withpieces of slag or other vitreous cellular material, buoyant in water,such as is contemplated by my in- Vention, in the form of pieces ofconsiderable size. Also, the pieces of slag or other materialimmediately adjacent to the hull of the ship are preferably packed orembedded in oakum or other fibrous material suitable for calkingpurposes, as indicated at 7.

Thus, in case an explosion occurs and the hull of the ship proper isruptured, the force of said explosion will operate to force said oakumor other material together with the slag contained in said chamber,which will probably be considerably rushed thereby,

into the hole in the hull of the ship, thus entirely stopping ormaterially reducing any leakage through said hole. Also, after the forceof the explosion has spent itself, said I fibrous material will be heldin place by the water pressure. Said protective armor may be made of anydesired thickness. It is believed, however, that in most cases aneffective armor will be provided by armor from eight (8) to ten (10)feet in thickness.

In place of a continuous shell or casing B, my invention contemplatesequally the use of separate, relatively small sections, each consistingof a separate casing, which are entirely separate from the hull of theship and all of the sides of which are closed so that said sections willfloat, and .which are adapted to be secured to the sides of the ship byany suitable means, preferably in such manner that they may be quicklyandconveniently detached, if desired, whereby, in case of'an emergency,said protective armorterial contained 1. A protective armor for shipsand the like, comprising a body of cellular, friable and buoyantmaterial supported so as to be exposed to the direct force of explosionswhich may be sustained by said ship or the like within a prescribedarea, substantially as described.

2. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a body ofvitreous, cellular and buoyant material supported so as to be exposed tothe direct force of explosions which may be sustained by said ship orthe like within a prescribed area, substantially as described.

3.'A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a body ofcellular, friable and buoyant material, and fibrous material disposedadjacent to the hull of the ship, substantially as described.

4. A protective armor for ships'and the l1ke, comprising a shellor'casing and a body of cellular, friable and buoyant material contalnedtherein, substantially as described.

5. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a shell orcasing and a body of cellular, friable and buoyant material insubdivided form contained therein, substantially as described.

6. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a shell orcasing, a body of cellular, friable and buoyant material in subdividedform contained therein, and fibrous material disposed adjacent to thehull of the ship, substantially as described.

7. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a shell orcasing comprising a plurality of separate compartments, and a body ofcellular, friable and buoyant matherein, substantially as described.

8. A protective armor for ships and th like, comprising a water-tightshell or casing and a body of cellular, friable and buoyant materialcontained therein, substantially as described.

9. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a water-tightshell or casing and a body of cellular, friable and'buoyant materialcontained therein, the top wall of said shell or casing being relativelyweak,

substantially as described.

10. A protective armor for ships and the like, comprising a water-tightshell or casing and a body of cellular, friable and buoyant materialcontained therein,-the outer and top walls of said casing beingrelatively thin,

substantially as described.

11. A protective armor for ships and the like, consisting of a pluralitof se arate sections ach comprising a ho y of ce ular,

spam 8 friable buoyant material and means for dee tachabl sec saidsections to the sides of a ship, substantially as described.

- 12. A protective armor for ships and the 5 like, consisting of aplurality of se arate hollow shells or ca all of the si es of which areclosed an which are air and water-tight, a body of cellular, friable,buoyant material contained therein and means for detachably securingsaid shells or casings 10 to the sides of a ship, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony that 'I claim the foregoing as my invention, I aflix mysignature this 5th day of May, 1917.

FREDERIC W. BENTLEY.

